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The Army's experience in Bosnia offers a preview of how important contractors will be in future deployments.
On 18 September 1997, elements of the U.S. Army comprising Task Force Eagle were directed by the commander of NATO's Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia-Herzegovina to seize and maintain control of the transmission tower on Mount Zep, in the Multinational Division (North) sector of Bosnia. The tower was part of a media network that transmitted continuous, inflammatory anti-SFOR messages to the public. Because it served as a powerful means of inciting the Bosnian people in contravention of the General Framework Agreement for Peace (the Dayton Accords), the tower had to be silenced until it ceased hostile broadcasts.
The U.S. soldiers, after careful planning and swift execution, took the hilltop tower without resistance and immediately began securing it. Within 30 minutes after the last infantryman dismounted his vehicle and took up a hasty defensive position, an M 1074 palletized loading system (PLS), bearing a contingency package of sandbags, plywood, barbed wire, and pickets, roared to a stop on the hilltop. The troops were surprised at its arrival, and even more surprised when a civilian jumped from the vehicle and began preparing to drop its cargo.
The truck was there with needed supplies almost before the soldiers realized that supplies were needed. Logistics planners working behind the scenes had anticipated requirements, identified sources of supply, and determined means of delivery. Plans already had been laid for contractor-supported living quarters, showers, latrines, and, most importantly, hot food for deserving soldiers. Within weeks, Mount Zep was transformed into a small American base camp, with most of the amenities found at other base camps in the U.S. sector of Bosnia. That first civilian, operating Army equipment and following the combat elements by no more than half an hour, exemplified the successes the Army experienced with contractors as a force multiplier in its peace enforcement operations in Bosnia.
Contractor Support in a Mature Theater
When elements of the 1 st Armored Division first crossed the Sava River from Croatia into Bosnia as part of the U.S. contribution to Operation Joint Endeavor, Task Force Eagle looked much different than it did nearly 2 years later, when elements of the same division occupied Mount...